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Come along with me to Adelaide

01:59

I love every shade of blue you're in.

The weekend trip is coming to a close but the last day - including a mad rush for the flight (yes, a heart-stopping story again) is nothing short of being super happening! It sure feels like a few days stuffed into one, but completely feasible and not too packed. After two days, Adelaide became so easy to navigate, so come away on this day itinerary that I'll probably refer to anyone who wants to know what to do around here:

In case you're new around here, I secretly moonlight as a chocolate guardian, so I like to visit chocolate factories to make sure they are well-kept. Adelaide is home to Haigh's Chocolate Factory, where they give free tours to show you how they make premium quality chocolate from cocoa beans from different plantations around the world. If you plan to visit the factory, you have to fill up this form here for the tour (AM - 0900/1030/1130/1200). They will send you an email confirmation thereafter.

Photography of any kind is strictly out of bounds so we kept our cameras. The tour is very family-friendly, considerably designed for tourists. Before starting the tour, they sweeten you up with some Haigh's chocolates as you will go through this passageway lined with glass windows. Through these windows, you can see the Haigh's factory staff kneading or crafting chocolate in their final stages. There are also huge metallic cylinders in the background that you can sort of see them churning about, most of the tour is dependent on the narrator who was really good at providing the explanation! You are allowed to ask any questions during the tour too.

The 20-minutes tour ends with the browsing of the Haigh's shops, there is absolutely no obligation for you to spend after the tour - which they feed you with plenty of delicious chocolates, but I just feel like getting some because chocolates make me happy and I spend when I'm happy (good strategy there, Haigh's). Plus, the chocolates here are priced at factory-outlet prices because it is a factory outlet.

Haigh's Chocolate Factory
154 Greenhill Road

Parkside South Australia 5063

After a quick checkout at our accommodation at Grand Chifley's, we hopped onto Bus 190 to Glenelg, a quaint, cozy and extremely photogenic beach town. I can't compliment this place enough, just look at this:

It's so beautiful I feel like I am walking through some kind of theme park.

With a boardwalk that stretches out into the ocean... my heart just melted straightaway. I already have a soft spot for coastlines, I can't say I have a favourite, but this one is really one of a kind. 'Azure blue' is really not just some fanciful essay description, but breathtakingly real.

I am jumbling up the photos a little bit, they aren't in chronological order, but I like how they turned out because the lighting is really flattering that day.

The Bay Discovery Centre was some kind of museum which requires a gold coin donation. The whole area isn't very big, not too many exhibitions so it's easily done in 10 minutes. What I remembered was that it showcased some historical artefacts and uniforms of the olden days.

Someone offered to help us take a photo, and ended up taking one with our faces occupying half the frame (almost like a selfie) with the gorgeous blue sea being blurred out at the back... pretty hilarious effect, and he even asked if we're sisters! I actually can see the resemblance in this photo now that I'm writing this...

I do miss the seagulls. A little weird to say because seagulls are supposed to be pests in Aussie but they are so cute, aren't they? I guess they must be my favourite type of birds, and they appear in flocks wherever we are near the coasts... which I can't resist taking photos of (I have tons of these pictures in my camera).

This Thai restaurant in the Chinatown vicinity left a really good impression on me. I cannot really remember exactly what we ordered, but it was quite delicious and I finished everything nicely. The service here is madly efficient, one of the service staff came over to ask if everything was okay, helped us out with the directions and even saw us to the door.

Star of Siam

67 Gouger Street

Adelaide SA 5000

Adelaide Central Market is supposed closed on Monday but I guess Asians are too hardworking to leave their stalls closed for two consecutive days. Which is wonderful because we got to visit it, and we got ourselves mini kangaroo soft toys for AUD2.5 each? It's crazy how cute and cheap they are. That's probably my only souvenir from Adelaide but you know it's good enough.

We went on a little tour on the free bus ride around the North Adelaide residential vicinity which we didn't manage to see in our itinerary at all, but it turned out to be quite draggy and I even almost fell asleep on the bus! We got to see their houses which was similar to Perth's, and some of their schools. We got off at Chinatown again.

With a bit more time to kill, we decided to pop by the Hello Kitty Cafe which we've been eyeing since day one! The matcha waffle and ice-cream set was surprisingly quite well-done despite my initial expectations that pretty food always doesn't taste good. Of course it's not spectacular, but you know, it just kept us in a super good mood!

Hello Kitty Cafe
31 Moonta Street

Adelaide South Australia 5000

Last sunset in Adelaide, taken while waiting for the tram at South Terrace to take us to Grote Street. Time stamp: 5.06pm

Whatever that ensued later, was a crazy, crazy blur... which explains the lack of photographs. Maybe we really didn't want to leave Adelaide, but somehow there was a miscalculation and underestimation of the time needed to get to Adelaide airport. Our flight departs at 6.45pm, and we just collected our luggages from our hotel at 5pm, and needed to catch the J1 bus (30-minute bus ride) somewhere on Grote Street by the free tram. All seems like the perfect plan. So we waited for the free tram, took it up to Grote Street, and waited for the bus... until we realized we actually missed the J1 bus (5pm) that only comes every hour. It doesn't come every 15 minutes as assumed (lesson learnt). The next one comes at 6pm.

Obviously by catching the 6pm bus, we can't reach the airport in time to catch the flight (we will only reach at 6.30pm, earliest). The only cab/Uber option will cost us AUD120 for such a short ride, which in essence is practically equivalent to my flight ticket.

So... we are pretty much stranded.

The next bus came along, and we asked the bus driver (not J1) if he knows any way, any way at all, to get to the airport. He gave us a look of bewilderment like... why am I your plan B?! And then after a bit of deliberation, he tells us

I think there's a bus that goes to the airport on Currie Street. It comes at 5.15pm.

I dart a glance at my phone - 5.13pm.

You can imagine the string of expletives that sprung in my mind and the tingling brain nerves shooting around my head. Currie Street is, mind you, two major streets away. And it was slightly past five, which means all the office crowd is pouring into the streets. I have never seen Adelaide so crowded since I came, and now we had to maneuver across two busy streets with the busy crowd, buzzing traffic, a trolley luggage... all in two minutes.

Well, by hook or by crook right?

So we started running, navigating which exact bus stop on Currie Street - six bus stops to choose from... and then I couldn't figure out exactly which because we were running so frantically, and then I suddenly saw the J1 bus coming on the road (I guess it's the one we missed, but it took a big round) - about a hundred metres away.

I never ran as quickly as I did in my entire life, dragging my suitcase behind me (very trusty and hardy) on the cobblestoned path. I basically parted the crowd like how Moses parted the sea, partially sprinting on the road right in front of the bus in case it didn't see me.

And we got on it. You can say we amazing-raced the heck out of the ending of our trip.

And we were safely enroute back to Melbourne.

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I share interesting episodes in life revolving around food, lifestyle, travel and inspirational ideas. If you would like to stay in touch, follow me on my Instagram on @spherepiece and Facebook page!